Ok folks, let's really dial this in so that you can make the most of your weekend. The story isn't the snow, it's the conditions and even more so the wind. I do have good news though, the threat of severe holds on Saturday have definitely reduced in scope but they are of course still notable. I'm going to try to detail the Saturday and Sunday wind holds as precisely as possible to help you understand the timing and scope of the issues so that you can choose wisely and have appropriate expectations.
I'm going to first cover the Surface Conditions and Edge Sharpening for everyone, and then for our subscribers I'm going to provide a quick update on the Snowfall Forecast, and then a very detailed Wind Hold Forecast for Saturday and Sunday. "Knowledge Isn't Powder" this weekend, but it will ensure that you can enjoy it.
Surface Conditions and Edge Sharpening
First, let's talk about those conditions. We saw generally 0.5-1.5 inches of r@!n across the region along with temperatures that reached above freezing for more than a day. The ski areas closer to the coast and also generally south of the Albany, NY latitude have already been building some corn which will help a little in the recovery, but Friday will be the first frozen groom everyone mountains have seen since the event. Generally it takes 3 days of frozen grooming on moderately steep terrain to recover decently from an icing event.
It's been an amazing season for the Northeast with consistently cold temperatures, and this is the first time I'm going to tell everyone that you should sharpen your edges! I can't stress this enough. The difference between a dull edge and a freshly sharp edge is night and day for edge hold when the trails get skied off, and given icing event and just 2 days of grooming before the weekend, things are going to get skied off on any moderate pitch. Sharp edges in these conditions aren't a small tweak, they're a major improvement and not only can this save your ski day, it can save you from injury. Unless you ski greens and gentle blues, I strongly recommend not showing up this weekend without sharp edges!
If you tune your own skis or boards, then you do you of course. Racers, close your eyes, my advice here is more generic for those who aren't regular tuners but recreational skiers and riders. I travel with a 'pocket edger' from Swix but the edger shown above claims to be able to match every angle and the price is nice though I can't vouch for its quality. You do need to know your angles because just 1 degree of difference may mean a lot more edge needs to be removed. I mostly do this every icy day in the parking lot and apply a 'quick edge', but that's just how I roll. I strongly recommend wearing a glove when doing this because if you slip, you can cut yourself pretty seriously with your edge. You don't need to use the diamond stones for a quick edge, and as far as your base edge goes, leave that for a professional tune. It really only needs a quick pass to debur.
And now for the fun stuff...
